Move LA is quite the success story, signaling the emergence of a real transit network in Los Angeles that can help move the city away from its auto-dependent, traffic-riddled past. It's time to do the same in Cook County.

"Switching to public transportation is one of the most important actions we can take for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Expanding public transit in Cook County will make it easier for people to adopt a low-carbon lifestyle."

Four of the region’s five top job centers — along the I-90 corridor (172,000 jobs) and in Lombard (32,000 jobs), ­­­­ Naperville (35,000 jobs) and Oak Brook (33,000 jobs) — are currently not well served by rapid transit. This means that for residents of neighborhoods with high concentrations of unemployment and poverty, most job centers are effectively unreachable, except for those with access to a vehicle. Yet cars are expensive.

Surveys show support for using public money to “create, expand and improve public transportation.” Nearly 90% agreed that public transportation improves access to jobs and close to 80% agreed that it “can help pave the way to a stronger economy.”